1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to building wall construction and more particularly to that class of building wall having dead air spaces located intermediate the innermost and outermost lateral surfaces thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art abounds with building wall constructions having dead air spaces located intermediate the lateral surfaces thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 2,958,982 issued on Nov. 8, 1960 to G. W. Baker teaches a building wall construction having "V" shaped brackets acting as spacers for pairs of blocks located in spaced apart parallel relationship and secured to the "V" shaped spacers. The Baker patent suffers the deficiency of requiring an on site assembly of the "V" shaped spacers and the blocks comprising the innermost and outermost elements of the wall. Such on site construction costs makes the use of the Baker construction expensive by virtue of the cost of the spacer and the labor cost required to assemble some to the blocks making up the wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,428 issued on Nov. 22, 1965 to C. Kay discloses an apparatus similar in use and construction to the apparatus taught by Baker excepting the manner in which the "V" shaped spacer is secured to the wall elements spaced apart thereby. The Kay apparatus is specifically designed to accommodate the assembly of wooden panels and building blocks in removable installations and suffers the same deficiency as does the teachings of Baker.
The present invention teaches the construction of a building wall, either in modular form or in large wall sections which include a dead air space intermediate a pair of blocks or larger surfaces. The dead air space does not have large thermally conducting elements utilized to tie together the block elements, thus minimizing the thermal coupling between the outermost block and the innermost block in a wall construction. In sub-tropical climates, moisture tends to be trapped in the dead air space condensing on the innermost lateral surface of the wall promoting odors and deterioration of the supporting structure utilized to support the wall. The present invention employs rod elements, similar to reinforcing rods or rod elements having a smooth external surface, thereby minimizing the thermal coupling between the wall surfaces, whilst providing a strong unitary structure of blocks and rods. The rods may be utilized to lift and transport the wall, either in modular sizes or in larger sizes. Each rod element, embedded in the blocks, is provided with a "V" shaped excursion located near the center of the dead air space. The "V" shaped excursion permits condensation, gathered on the interior surfaces of the blocks, and on the rods, to descend downwardly to the lowermost located apex of the "V" shaped excursion so as to permit water droplets to fall therefrom into the center of the air space rather than running along the surface of the walls and the tie rods in preferential locations causing moisture tracks and causing moisture build-up on such surfaces.
The assembled blocks are light, do not require on site constructions, may be pre-finished on the exterior surfaces, and may be readily assembled to one another by utilizing tongue in grooves built into horizontal marginal edges of the inner block or the outer block, or both blocks.
Blocks, being provided in assembled form, having tie rods disposed between adjacent blocks, present a heavy and bulky structure to move. Furthermore, such devices are difficult to manufacture, as by molding. An alternate of the embodiment of the present invention utilizes tie rods having the "V" shaped excursion disposed separately from the blocks. Thus, the blocks may be molded, having metal plates therewithin. This facilitates utilizing standard block making machinery. The tie rods are then installed to a pair of blocks equipped with the metallic plates so as to join them together, either on site or at the facility which molds the blocks. In this fashion, great flexibility is provided in molding and in handling, as well as facilitating carrying means, for manually carrying assembled blocks from place to place.